The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 771 Great Victory! Slaughter the bandits and bring our compatriots home!
The sea breeze was fierce, and the seawater was churning.

Shen Le, dressed in mourning attire with a dark black cloth belt around his waist, stood at the bow of the ship, holding a sextant in his hand, constantly measuring the ship's position and drawing it stroke by stroke on the nautical chart.

A young sailor, perched atop a mast not far away, shaded his eyes with his hand and peered ahead.
"We see it! We see the ship's lights! It's right ahead! — Sure enough, after rounding that bend, we saw it!"

"Just keep an eye on them, don't chase after them. Maintain a safe distance where you can see them from afar," Shen Le instructed calmly.

"This time, we're going to lure the pirates out and take them down! Come on, let's practice our boat handling again! Turn! Get ahead of the wind! Position the gunwales facing the third lone salvage vessel, line them up! Aim the ballistae!"

The sounds of creaking oars, pulling sails, and sailors running on the ship filled the air. The sand barge lurched, tracing a white arc across the sea as it cut out into the wind.

A moment later, the sand barge behind also stepped forward, and the two sand barges simultaneously turned to face the No. 3 lone salvage vessel that was hoisting the green flag, forming a rough T-shape.

On the ship, another group of young men were frantically adjusting the crossbow, aiming the sights at the enemy...

"Well done! Come on, go around half a circle again and regain the upper hand! Show them the ballistae on the other side!"

Shen Le moved lightly from the bow to the stern, quickly checked the crossbow's aiming sights, and gave the order again.

The young men let out a series of heavy sighs, muttered under their breath, and began to scramble about. Shen Le could only pat one shoulder, then another on the back:
"Don't complain about being tired! If we practice well now, we'll be more prepared and accurate when we're actually fighting! See, isn't this time much better than last time?"

Sigh, he also wanted to keep these people on the ship and train them for six months to a year until they were all proficient before letting them go out to sea.

Unfortunately, he couldn't. He didn't have a year, not half a year, not even half a month—the attack on the Shen family needed to be resolved as soon as possible. Every day later, the snowball of crisis would grow even bigger!
After a round of training, he was so tired that tears streamed down his face, and he almost wanted to lie down on the ship's railing and fall asleep on the spot.

With the Shen family's survival at stake, and this battle looming large, Shen Le had no choice but to pull out a bamboo tube, tap it against his palm, pour out a dumpling, and stuff it into his mouth.
A bitter, lingering taste went down his throat, chilling him so much that he shivered and instantly sobered up. Yawns rose and fell around him as the sailors turned and shouted:

"Third Uncle, can I have a green dumpling?"

"Pick yourself up!"

"Young master, have some!"

"Okay, okay, one for each of you, don't fight over it." Shen Le generously tapped the bamboo tube and handed each of them a green pill:

These are honey pills made by grinding dried tea leaves into an extremely fine powder, mixing them with lotus root starch, and then adding honey.

The honey pills are coated with a thick layer of mint extract, which cools you down instantly upon tasting them.

Shen Le didn't want to resort to such drastic measures unless necessary. The caffeine extracted from the tea powder could indeed cause rapid heartbeats—but he had been staying up for several days in a row and needed to make a nighttime trip, so he couldn't do without something effective to keep him awake...

With the help of energy-boosting pills, they successfully stayed up until dawn, when a red sun rose above the sea.

As the cargo ship continued its slow, northward journey, fishing boats began casting their nets across the vast sea, but not a single suspicious vessel appeared. The sailors' atmosphere grew increasingly uneasy.
Why haven't they come out yet?

"Can it be caught by fishing?"

"Will all this trip have been for nothing...?"

"No, absolutely not." Shen Le was actually a little uneasy, but she still turned her head, her voice firm, and loudly reassured the crew:
"We have already made a great deal of effort, using our family's ceramics workshop and brocade workshop as collateral to obtain new ships, and we have also collected the best goods in the whole county."

Each household possessed their most prized possessions: fine white wax, exquisite brocade, and delicate porcelain. These items were not easily obtained, a fact known throughout the county, and the pirates certainly couldn't be unaware of them—and once they knew, they couldn't resist!

"Then...why haven't those pirates come out yet?"

"What's the rush? Fishing requires patience." Shen Le himself felt a little uneasy, but his tone became increasingly calm:
"They just pulled off a big heist, they need time to digest it and also need to gauge the situation. They're not going to let us, this 'fat sheep,' go."

Besides, didn't the people keeping watch on the beach send back a message before we came out? They said suspicious people had gone out to sea…”

His composure led the entire fleet to calm down naturally. Sure enough, as the afternoon approached, a striking red flag was suddenly raised on the cargo ship ahead!

"coming!"

Everyone on the warship perked up. The short sailor who had been on lookout duty quickly climbed to the top of the mast and sounded the alarm:
"The island ahead! Three speedboats are approaching on the right side of the island!"

Shen Le's spirits lifted, and he immediately looked down at the nautical chart. The chart was dotted with what appeared to be the small islands and reefs he had previously recorded, and the shipping lanes were exceptionally complex. It seemed this was the pirates' chosen battleground…

The area is characterized by numerous reefs, narrow waterways, and complex hydrology. While pirates could rely on their light boats and fast ships to move quickly and easily, heavy cargo ships faced a dilemma of movement.

If the entanglement drags on and we're forced to run into a rock, then there's no chance of survival...

But they finally arrived. Shen Le took a deep breath, shaded his eyes with his hand, and looked around. He saw three long, narrow arrow-shaped ships cutting through the waves, flanking him from several directions.

The sharp hull and the high-flying sails, amidst the spray of the waves, resembled the dorsal fin of a shark smelling blood.

The ship was moving extremely fast, and the people at the bow were not clearly dressed; their clothes were disheveled and certainly not standard armor. The long and short weapons in their hands reflected the sunlight, and even without seeing their faces, one could sense their ferocity and greed.

Are we going to fight?!

The sailors around him were breathing heavily. Many of them, going into battle for the first time, showed signs of panic; some even had trembling hands as they pulled the sail ropes. Shen Le immediately turned around and raised his voice:

"Hold on! Proceed according to plan! — Signal with flags to keep them occupied, we'll catch up immediately!"

At a command, someone hoisted a tall green flag as planned. On the cargo ship, the sailors began to run around haphazardly, some trying to adjust the sails to speed up their escape.

But in their panic, their movements became erratic, the sails spun erratically, actually slowing the ship down even further. The three fast boats, meanwhile, sped forward, and from Shen Le's perspective, they had formed a large circle, completely surrounding the cargo ship on three sides—

"Don't panic! Advance in formation! Small boats, don't rush ahead!" Shen Le had to raise his voice and shout to control the speed of the warship fleet.

Three lone salvage boats formed an arrowhead formation, one leading the way, two flanking it to the left and right, protecting the sand barge as it sped forward. Closer, closer, the whistles and shouts from the pirate ships could already be clearly heard:
"Listen up, boat ahead! Stop and drop anchor! We're just after money, not lives!"

"Hand over your goods properly and we'll let you go. If you dare to move, we'll chop you all into pieces and send you to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish!"

The pirate ship approached, shouting and cursing. Shen Le's fleet of sand ships, though not slow, was only chasing from the limit of visual distance, and at this point it seemed impossible to catch up.

The pirate ship seemed confident as well. Despite watching them approach, it continued to close in on the cargo ship, even throwing out grappling hooks in preparation for boarding. "Send the signal!" Shen Le suddenly waved his hand.

"Thump! — Clang!!!"

The deafening sound of firecrackers shook the sea. With a loud bang, the tarpaulin on the cargo ship, which appeared to be fully loaded with brocade, wax, and fine porcelain, was suddenly ripped open.

A row of gleaming ballistae quickly revealed their true form, appearing before the pirates who had just been smug but were now stiff-faced!
"put!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A heart-stopping, thunderous boom suddenly erupted from the bowstring!
The crossbow bolts were of various kinds: some were iron arrows that had been stored in the treasury for a long time, some were harpoons or short javelins, and some were even thick bamboo poles that had been sharpened and hardened by fire.

Such a chaotic barrage of crossbow bolts would certainly have extremely poor accuracy at a distance, but at a distance close enough to board the pirates, they pierced straight into their chests with a shrill whistling sound that tore through the air!

"Pfft!"

"what!"

"what--"

Blood gushed forth! The screams of the pirates filled the air. The pirate ship closest to the cargo ship was instantly stunned.

The first pirate to shout "I only seek wealth, not lives" was shot high into the air by a crossbow bolt, flew in an arc, and fell into the sea, disappearing from sight.
Another pirate beside him was grazed on the arm by a sharpened bamboo pole, which immediately opened a large gash. He slumped onto the deck, his eyes vacant and his lips moving blankly.
The third pirate was lucky and missed. However, he dared not stand any longer, let out a roar, and collapsed onto the ship:

"Closer! Brothers, closer! This thing can only hit at long range, not at close range!"

when!
Dang Dang!

Two harpoons that had missed their mark slammed into the arrow ship. The sides were instantly pierced, and seawater rushed in; the rudder was shattered, and the ship immediately lost control, spinning wildly on the sea.

At this point, even getting "close" was impossible. Some pirates shouted "scoop water," while others shouted "jump ship," their cries and screams echoing across the sea.

However, the blows have only just begun!
The cargo ship destroyed a pirate ship in one fell swoop, greatly boosting the morale of the sailors. Some boarded the ship, others grabbed spears, ready to fight the pirates to the death.

With this delay, the three "Sea Red Hare" ships have already accelerated at full speed, heading straight for the flanks and rear of the pirate fleet!

The tarpaulin on the bow was lifted. The salvage vessel was too narrow to mount a row of ballistae horizontally; they had to be mounted on the bow.

However, these ballistae were firing bolts with earthenware jars attached to them! The jars were filled with a mixture of fish oil and vegetable oil, and had just been lit!

"Aim! Fire!"

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The crossbow bolts, trailing flames, ripped through the sky and hurtled towards the two intact pirate ships!
Three against two. The Juexi looting boat was only half the size of the pirate ship, and its crew was far fewer.

However, the flames don't listen to reason—the earthenware pot shattered, oil splattered everywhere, and flames erupted instantly afterward!
Canvas, ropes, planks... even the bodies of pirates who couldn't escape in time. If it were a well-trained warship, equipped with buckets, sand, and fire-fighting tools, there might still be hope, but pirates have no such discipline.

In just a few breaths, flames roared up everywhere on the pirate ship!

Fire! Fire!

"Jump into the sea!"

The pirates' formation completely collapsed.

One ship was taking on water and sinking, another was engulfed in flames, and the third, seeing the situation was dire, frantically tried to escape. The sand barges had already rapidly closed in and gained the upper hand. This time, it was a volley of all the ballistae on both ships!

This carefully chosen ambush site by the pirates quickly turned into a hellish scene. Struggling pirates and burning debris floated on the sea, accompanied by cries and pleas for mercy.

"Don't get close! Don't get close yet! Sand barge, circle around, get upwind! Switch sides, fire another round!" Shen Le stood at the bow of the ship, constantly issuing orders.

Dressed in mourning clothes, not a drop of blood on him, none of those around him dared to look up at him; they simply kept their heads down, working tirelessly to carry out his orders.
"Scatter the small boats! Be on guard! Don't let the pirates climb aboard and seize the ship!"

"Clean up the remaining enemies! Repeat after me: Kneel down, raise your hands, and surrender to be spared!"

"Bang! Bang!"

Another round of ballista fire completely crushed the pirates who still wanted to put up a stubborn resistance or tried to ram their ships.

By the time the looting vessel approached and the sailors boarded, the pirates, except for those who were lying down and unable to move, were all kneeling tremblingly on the deck, their hands raised high:

We have no choice but to surrender! The seawater is a vibrant red, and in the salty sea breeze, ferocious delta-fins are already closing in…

The battle began suddenly and ended just as quickly. The sun was still a bamboo pole's width above the sea, and only a dilapidated pirate ship remained on the surface.

On the Shen family's side, the two sailors who were most seriously injured were one who stepped on a nail while boarding the ship, and the other who cut his finger while cocking the ballista...

Shen Le didn't delay and immediately directed the ships to converge and interrogate the prisoners. Whips, seawater, and steel knives were used in several rounds, and soon someone confessed:

"We were in that secluded bay in Huabiao Mountain before!"

"The stolen goods and people are still there! — The ship hijacked a few days ago? The ship hasn't left yet, and the goods haven't been transported away. How could it be so fast!"

"The sailors are here too... No one was killed! Really, no one was killed! These can all be sold for money. The boss was originally planning to find a middleman to collect the ransom!"

"There aren't many guards... the capable ones have all come out today..."

Shen Le looked exhausted, but his eyes grew brighter. After processing all the information, he issued the order without hesitation:

"Leave the cargo ship behind to guard the prisoners, and be careful not to run aground. The rest of you, follow me straight to Flower and Bird Mountain—kill all the bandits and bring our compatriots home!"

"Kill all the bandits and bring our compatriots home!!!" Three sand barges, three locomotives, and hundreds of sailors shouted in unison, exhausted yet invigorated.
This time, they truly saw hope—hope for their family's safety and hope for the Shen family's revival!
(End of this chapter)